Friday, February 9, 2007

The dish we are making today is really called “Pasta e fagioli,” “pasta and beans.” But, is (mis)pronounced and (mis)spelled by most Italian-Americans (me being one) as "Pastafazoo.” As I mention in the clip, if there is ever a Soul Food Olympics, this simple and hearty Italian meal of beans and macaroni should be that country’s entry! There are so many different kinds, ranging from very soup-like to thicker stew-like versions. Some have meat, some don’t, some have tomato, some don’t, etc. The only standard ingredients are pasta and beans, the rest is up to you (and by you, I mean me).

The pasta I decided to use is called “Orecchiette,” which means “little ears” due to its shape. It really works great as you’ll soon see. For the beans I went with jars of cooked Cannellini beans, seeing no need to cook dry beans from scratch. Also, it was cold and raining outside as I made this dish, and I was very happy about that, as I knew it would make this taste that much better.

My computer crashed a year ago and I lost my bookmark for this site. It's snowing here in the East today and I remembered this great dish. Well after searching around the web I am back and guess what I will have for dinner tonight.

I just discovered your blog and I made the no knead pizza (better than California Pizza Kitchen) the tamale pie and the pastafazool all in one week. Everything was absolutely delicious!! I will look forward to the disappearance of the butt picture - a bit distasteful to me. Hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow. Thanks so much for ALL of your wonderful recipes. What a great find your blog is. As soon as the butt picture is gone, I'll tell everyone I know!!